


Speeders

by Oh_Snapcrackle



Series: Canon Challenges / Prompts [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Competition, F/M, Kylo Ren Being a Little Shit, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Racing, Rey Needs A Hug, Reylo Weekly Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-22 02:58:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14299284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Snapcrackle/pseuds/Oh_Snapcrackle
Summary: When you have the force but you have no money there is only one option - speed racing. Rey joins a speeder race to get some money for the Resistance. Kylo shows up. Chaos ensues.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This one started off as an entry for #relyoweeklychallenge hosted by @two-halves-of-reylo, but the plot bunny got me. Now it's gotten a little out of hand. More parts to follow...and I'll see how far this goes. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think.

* * *

 

When you have the force, but you have no money there is only one option - speed racing.

Well, there are other options like high stakes gambling or mind-tricking unsuspecting victims, but they are all too shady. If she needed money bad enough to turn dark she could just apply for a job with the First Order. So, after realizing they were running low on fuel and everyone’s tummy was starting to rumble, Rey did the most sensible thing at the time - she signed up for the speeder races.

——

It’s not the most beautiful speeder in the galaxy, but it is damn fast. She made sure of it.

Still, she feels a little self-conscious as she pulls up to the starting lanes, settling into one of the last positions only to realize she is flanked by shiny new speeders that probably cost more than all the portions she ever earned. She notes some of the brands and models, ticking off the amount of power they possess and comparing them to her noble little steed. It won’t be an easy race, she admits. Not only are the speeders expensive off the line, she knows they have been outfitted with a slew of upgrades. She might have the force on her side, and a rather impressive engine she pieced back together, but she is still the underdog.

But she can’t afford to lose.

Just as she is pulling her goggles down, and shifting her cowl, another speeder pulls up next to her. The last to arrive, it immediately captures her attention. Black, shiny, and the most expensive vehicle on the line, the lithe little speeder makes her mouth drop open in shock. But it’s not just the rarity and sheer lavishness that is the little racing speeder that makes her heart still, it’s the hulking mass that is stretched across the black leather seat.

He hadn’t…

But he had.

He turns to glance at her, a crooked smirk tugging at one half of his face. She flushes, feeling heat rise to her face in anger and something else she doesn’t want to acknowledge.

 _Force, he got that smile from his father,_  she thinks and tries to turn away.

But Ben, scratch that, Kylo has been a man that has always demanded attention. Even with the promise of a race ahead, she can’t look away from him when he is so blatantly staring her down. When he realizes he has her utmost attention, he leans toward her. If he wanted to he could reach out and touch her. He doesn’t.

“That’s an interesting looking speeder,” He calls over the growl of the engines. “I assume you customized it yourself?”

She lets her pride swell. She may not have the most beautiful top-of-the-line speeder, but she put her own blood, sweat, and tears into this little baby and she is proud. “Of course I did,” She gives it a fond little pat, “I like giving things that  _deserve_  it a second chance.” She draws out the word deserve.

His anger flares at the dig. She plants a sweet smile on her face before she slides her cowl up a little further and turns her attention to focus on what is ahead. Maybe if she makes him angry enough he will wreck.

…At least she hopes that will work because she knows what kind of pilot he is. He is far better than Poe, far better than her, and when you include the differences in the machines they are running he is the clear winner.

She might have to play dirty to win this thing.

The thought sends a little thrill down her spine.

Or maybe that little thrill came from the gloved hand that is suddenly covering hers, tugging gently to pull her attention back to the neanderthal she was trying to ignore? She looks down at his hand clasping hers before looking at him. She tries to paint a look of annoyance on her face, but she thinks it comes out more curious than anything. He drops it once he has her attention, and her hand falls to the side of her speeder.

He leans in a little more so she can make out the black of his irises through the mop of his hair. She can just barely hear his voice above the thrum of their engines, but the low growl of it sends another shiver down her spine.

“I, on the other hand, prefer beautiful things that are overflowing with power.” He pulls back then and gives her a once over, and there is no mistaking his insinuation. She is so thankful that her face is covered by googles, cowl, and rags because she knows she is ruby red. Of course, her embarrassment and shock read across the bond, so he doesn’t need to see her face to know she is flushed.

He lets out a laugh; deep and hardy.

At that moment the countdown decides to start, and Rey has never been so relieved in her life.

They both turn to face the front, revving their engines and preparing for what is about to come. Their bond is buzzing from the adrenaline pumping through their veins. They can’t help but turn to glance at each other, eyes glowing and wide smiles on their faces. She wants to blame the excitement of the race for the giddiness in her heart.

But she knows that isn’t the only cause. She is genuinely excited to race him, and from what she can glean from the bond he feels the exact same way.

When the gun fires everything compresses into one single thought…

Beat him.

 

 


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the race begin with Kylo slaughtering the competition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the kudos and support! Here is the first leg of the race...

* * *

 

She did her research.

 

This particular race has four parts. There is a speedway at the initial start - all concrete and narrow alleys through a dilapidated part of the city. Once you make it through the dead zone, the next leg of the race is over the harbor. Its a good three miles of water and jutting rocks. Following the water is the grasslands. Finally, you have the mountains and valleys. This is the most dangerous part of the race, the part where most crash. Finally, you come out the other end of the mountains to a valley and then the finish line.

 

So when the gun goes off and everyone slams their foot on the gas, Rey sits back for a second. 

 

When she sees the end of Kylo’s speeder flash in front of her, then she hits the gas enough to fall into line behind him. They hold the last two positions in the race, but not for long.

 

Neither intends to stay at the back.

 

As she suspected, the first of the speeders falls to Kylo Ren within minutes of the starting gun. She has fought him enough to know he likes to strike first, bringing all the lambs to a quick slaughter. This race is no different. He sets his sights and then slays.

 

The little red speeder, his first victim, takes a hit to its left flank. It sends it into a death spiral that Rey dodges with a curse. So that's his plan, she thinks. He is going to wreck every speeder in the race and use them as fodder to knock her out of the race. With a growl, she slips right behind his speeder and hunkers down for the onslaught that is about to take place. If she can hang close, he can’t hit her with bits of downed wreckage without hurting himself.

 

He rams into the back of the next speeder, pushing it into the tarmac until it bends in half. It bursts into flames. They speed over the wreckage in seconds, gaining on the next in line.

 

Kylo takes down two more speeders in a similar fashion until the rest of the third line is laid to waste. Rey notices the city disappearing from view and the shimmering sea ahead - the second leg of the race.

 

Staying on his tail is a lot harder than anticipated, but the bond helps. She can feel his intentions before he makes a move, and it gives her plenty of time to react. Now that he has caught onto her game of sticking close, he is weaving around more. 

 

Another speeder down, she thinks, as a pretty blue speeder goes tumbling through the air and nearly nicks her. She has to bend down to avoid the shrapnel.

 

But she hasn’t had this much fun in ages. Her heart is hammering in her chest, and her blood is singing. 

 

“Do you plan on staying back there, or would you like to join the race?” He sneers through the bond. 

 

She lets a feeling of cheeky contentment seep through, “No, I’m good here. You are doing a good job of taking out all the competition.”

 

He grunts, “They are hardly competition.”

 

As if to prove his point, he pulls up beside a little yellow speeder and faints ramming into it. The pilot overcorrects and hits the green speeder on the other side. The two are suddenly entangled, whirling about in the air like panicked dancers until they go crashing into the water below. Rey has to pull on the force to make it through the wall of water that shoots into the air. She just misses bits of axels, mufflers, and all kinds of other parts that burst like confetti into the air.

 

As she shoots out of the water wall, she has to dodge another speeder that Kylo managed to clip at just the right angle. 

 

There goes the last of the second line, she thinks as the ocean gives way to grasslands. She watches as Kylo attempts to force one of the first line speeders into a large rock outcropping. But this is a pilot that has experience and they manage to pull up in time. She feels a little ripple in the bond.

 

“This will go a lot faster if you help.”

 

He is right. The last three speeders are top notch racers. They have experience. While he could knock them all out of the running, it would go faster if they worked together. She drops her speeder down low enough the grass tickles her clothing as she passes. Kylo is floating above the other racers, using the black speeders exceptional hover drives to push him higher. He’s like a hawk circling its prey, but he isn’t intent on her. Instead, he is focused on the last of the first line racers - a purple speeder. Its the one that managed to avoid Kylo’s attempt to slam him into some rocks moments before.

 

As Kylo descends from the sky, Rey slams on the gas and together the two pull up beside the purple speeder. The pilot realizes he is trapped, without enough time to avoid it, as they slam into him from either side. They hold him there until his steering goes out from the struggle and he pitches into the grasslands below. 

 

They nod to each other and pull away before their own speeders collide and make their move on the next pilot.

 

With them working as a team, the last of the other racers never stood a chance.The moment Kylo entered the contest the race became less about the prize and more about the competition between the two strongest force users in the galaxy.

 

The mountains are looming over them now, the narrow passage through coming into view. This is where most wrecks occur. It's hard enough for one speeder to cross the passage, let alone two. It makes it the perfect place for those wanting to climb the ranks to take out their competition. 

 

And that is where they take the last two front-runners out of the competition.

 

As they enter the narrow passage, Kylo guns it and turns his speeder horizontal so he can fly past the speeder in second place. This sets him up to dive bomb the first place speeder. Rey follows but settles alongside the second speeder. She rams them into the mountainside with all the force she can muster. 

 

She hears the moan of metal as they clash, both holding steady and trying to push the other off course. Whoever manages to keep the middle ground will win. And Rey can sense a rather prominent jagged edge a few feet away that she could slam her competitor into. For a second she thinks she may have messed up after she pulls away and then rams them into the wall, again. They pull back almost cutting into her speeder. At the right moment, the rock she sensed comes into play - ripping the underside of the speeder open. Metal and parts spill to the ground like guts.

 

She pulls her speeder back to the middle and takes an assessment of the battle taking place ahead.

 

Kylo has his black speeder a hair's breadth behind the first place racer. And he is hovering like Rey did to Kylo earlier in the race. Every move the racer makes, Kylo follows. 

 

“Take them out.” She thinks across the bond, confused. Even as she shoots toward them, she can see all the missed opportunities Kylo had to take out the last of their competition. She isn’t sure why he isn’t taking advantage of them.

 

Until she settles into place behind him, and it all becomes clear.

 

“As you asked,” He calls across the bond, a little whisper. The narrow passage widens, almost catching Rey off guard as she feels the expanse open. All three of them shoot out over the air, hovering for a second before they descend to the valley below. It's close to a ninety-degree incline, and Rey can feel gravity tugging on her as her feet skim the craggy mountainside. She pitches downward.

 

She winces as Kylo, just an arm span away, uses this opportunity to gain on his prey and nudge them on the tail. The other pilot glances back, stepping on the brakes, making Kylo swerve to avoid crashing. But Rey had expected this - it’s what Kylo had been lining her up for the entire time.

 

Leaning as far forward on her speeder as she can without unbalancing it, she presses the gas and leaps forward. Startled, the other pilot tries to gun it. But when Rey pulls up at the last second, the back tip of her speeder clips him. He jerks forward too fast and at too much of an angle that gravity pulls him into the mountainside. The orange speeder goes ass over end all the way down to the floor of the valley, parts flying off into the sky.

 

“Nice move,” He purrs over the bond.

 

But Rey doesn’t take the moment to enjoy her victory, because the real race has started.

 

Kylo pulls up beside her, and they stare at each other for the span of a breath. Their thoughts flash like lightning across the bond. 

 

“Glad you finally decided to join the race,” He laughs over the bond, “Are you ready to learn a thing or two?”

 

A shit eating smile spreads across her face, “From you? Since when have I ever let you teach me anything?”

 

Everything in her body is tingling with anticipation and the pull of gravity as they speed forward. The ground is reaching up to meet them so fast that when they pull up she gets a pleasant lurch in her gut.

 

“A first time, then?” He bellows across the bond before he presses the gas and pulls ahead.

 

An entire valley of dust and dunes stretches out before them, as does the promise of a possible victory. 

 

“Wishful thinking,” she tosses back and presses on the gas.

 

Let the real race begin.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: The true race begins and Kylo gets a little too personal.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The true race begins and Kylo gets a little too personal.

———————

While the valley stretches beyond their sight, Rey knows they are on the last leg of the race. It won't be long before they are approaching the finish line. But a few minutes is all Kylo needs to make an utter mess of things.

And does he ever.

She still isn’t sure how all this force stuff works, but she suspects that Kylo doesn’t just have a dark side and a light side of the force. She suspects that his force has an affinity for chaos. Because no matter what the idiot does, he leaves chaos in his wake. Even when he doesn’t mean to.

They start off with a simple speed competition. Kylo presses on the gas and pulls forward. Rey presses forward a bit and the pattern repeats until they get bored with it and start ramming each other.

In truth, Rey is the one that grows bored with it. It's becoming clear she is going to lose if it comes down to sheer power. He has a brand new, top of the line engine that will stomp hers even if she decides to use chemical enhancers. He hasn’t left her in the dust, yet. But the way he keeps glancing back over his shoulder and taunting her, she knows he isn’t even trying. He is enjoying their little dance.

And because she can’t handle another taunt from across the bond, she decides to shut him up.

And rams him.

Hard. 

“Fuck, Rey,” His curse comes loud and clear through the bond. She laughs because she has never heard him curse like that before. 

He pulls away as she hits him, pressing his own speeder toward hers and they get locked in a battle of push and shove. He presses his speeder’s size advantage, pushing her over and making her lose some of the middle ground. She grinds her teeth and hisses. She tries to add some more gas and push him back, and it works for a moment. She feels a little surge of excitement when she gains more ground. She almost pushes him out of the pathway and onto the shoulder. He presses back, and she lurches to the side.

“Kriff,” she whispers and hits the brake so hard her chest slams into the handlebars. That will leave a bruise, she thinks. 

But it got her out of their little push and shove. Kylo didn’t break speed, now meters ahead and climbing. She presses the gas, shifts gears, and hears a horrible grinding noise from the transmission. She grimaces but sighs in relief when that's all the transmission does. It lets her climb into the next gear.

That will need replacing, soon.

She manages to catch up with him and decides to pull from Poe’s bag of tricks. Though he pulls the move in an x-wing, Rey figures it will work for a speeder. With the finish line approaching, she needs to do something or she will lose this race. She can’t let that happen.

Too much money is riding on her victory, and now her pride.

Every bit of juice she has, she presses into the engine. Her foot touches the bottom of the speeder as she presses forward. Her speed climbs. She feels him expecting her arrival, preparing to change gears, but it's too late. Rey manages to gain enough ground that she is ahead of him and she uses it to curve her speeder into the upcoming corner. She drifts along the curve and uses the force at the end to swipe his speeder with the back of her own. 

The bad thing about racing with your bondmate, she realizes a little too late, is he can also feel her intent. And he planned accordingly. He presses forward like a battering ram, jamming her so hard it pushes her sideways. She manages to sling her legs over the side as they collide. She is still gripping the handles, riding the speeder side saddle.

 The velocity forces her speeder to bend around the nose of his. Metal screams as her speeder starts to split in half. It lets out a horrible whine and then snaps, flinging Rey to the sands below. She manages to pull enough force to slow her fall, preventing a devastating landing. 

“Rey, are you okay? Rey!” She feels panic storming through the bond. For a second she thinks it's her own panic until she starts to hear her name on repeat. She takes a moment to shake off her fall, little dots springing to life. It isn’t until his voice is screaming in her head that she finally replies.

“I’m fine. Can’t say that about my speeder, though.” She tries to hide her pouting from the bond. His relief floods over her. She walks over to the half of the speeder closest to her and kicks it. 

It's not even worth the scavenged parts at this point, she thinks. How is she going to recover from this? How is she going to be able to go back to the Resistance after promising to bring back some spoils?

She imagines Leia’s disappointed smile upon her return.

This was such a stupid idea, she thinks, kicking up sand and cursing. She got way too cocky, thought this would be an easy way to win some quick money. 

Dust kicks up around her, and Rey glances up to see a rather battered black speeder hovering a few feet away. The engines cut off, and its rider climbs off to lean against it.

“You had to go and cut it in half, didn’t you?” Rey calls across the sands at him.

“How else did you think this would end, little Jedi?” He calls back. The smugness in his voice makes the arid climate feel heavy, and Rey bristles. She knows he is baiting her, but at this point, she could care less. 

She wishes she had her saber so she could run him through.

“Did you think you would beat me?” He taunts.

“Is that why you showed up here, to prove that you are better than me? That you are stronger?” She hisses, her fingers itching for something to grab and to sling at him. 

This race would have been in the bag if he hadn’t shown up. She wouldn’t have lost the deposit for entering the race and she certainly wouldn’t have lost her speeder. But no, her bondmate had to show up and take this victory. And now she has nothing.

Just like the Supremacy.

Just like Crait.

No matter how much she tries to hold on it all slips out of her fingers like sand. She always comes away with nothing.

Because I am nothing, her internal self-hatred supplies. She tries to push that thought down before it can slip across the bond. It's a surprise to hear that voice now when she had spent years building a strong self-confidence. But its been a rough couple of months, and she has had to face down many demons including her own.

“Not to me,” He whispers, and it comes more through the bond than it does from his own lips. For a second she is confused, not sure what he means. Until it hits her. He heard her thoughts.

And there he is, giving her that look that he gave her on the Supremacy. That wide-eyed, imploring look of vulnerability that makes her knees weak. On the Supremacy she hadn’t thought of anything except helping her friends when she refused him. But in the months that have followed, it has haunted her. It's worse when he appears in the bond without his mask and the eyes of Ben Solo stare back.

“I rejected you,” She cries back, surprised to see this soft part of him again. “I left you unconscious on the floor of the ship and I ran away from you.” Because after all these months she doesn’t understand why he isn’t more angry with her. Why isn’t he rending heaven and earth to destroy her like he promised his dead master? Why isn’t he seething like he did on Crait? The question has been hanging on her tongue each time the bond bridges them, but neither has acknowledged it. 

Until now.

“You didn’t kill me,” He deadpans, and its almost a joke, she thinks. As if not killing him was the greatest gift she had ever given him - that she cared enough to not end him.  

It's not the answer she is looking for, and they both know it. 

She feels her heart constrict, and softly whispers, “I couldn’t.” She shuffles her feet in the sand like a little bashful kid, head turned toward the ground. She doesn’t like being this vulnerable, so the next thing she adds is louder…

“Though, force knows I should have. It would save a lot of people a lot of trouble.”

“It would have ended the war,” He adds, and he pushes off from the speeder. He takes slow steps toward her. With each step, he starts pulling off gear. First his gloves. Next his cowl. Next his heavy cape. His goggles go, too, falling to the sand as he approaches. Rey watches as they each land on the ground, not willing to look up at him.

But she can feel him standing over her, force radiating off him like the heat from the sand. There is a pause as they stand in each other’s presences, the barest of distance between them. It makes her shiver, and she thinks back to his touch on Ach-To. How it felt like absolution.

And she knows he is going to touch her now, the bond making that message loud and clear. She more feels it before it actually happens, like an echo before the voice. But when his hand slides under her chin and lifts it up to look at him, the bond collapses into a more compressed form. Almost like tunnel vision, and it sparks where they touch.

“But you didn’t kill me,” He whispers again. And this time the warmth of his breath passes over her face, and she tilts her chin up a little more.

“I didn’t,” She can feel the steel in her own eyes.

“You defended me. Against my uncle.”

“Yes.”

“You came for me, even though everyone told you I would not turn. Even I told you I would not turn.”

He turns his head to the side, his eyes flickering over her face before resting on her lips. His eyes grow darker and she feels a wave of heat flare in her veins. The air around them is crackling.

“Do you regret it?” He asks then, eyes flitting up from her lip to her eyes. And then he is pressing against her, closing the little gap of space. He is leaning over her now, bending so she has to bend her back to look up at him. Pressing his advantage. She feels the shiver of desire for her answer. This is the question he has been begging to ask.

She can’t even take a breath without inhaling him, and the lack of space makes it hard to breathe. This is a question she would rather answer with more space, where she could clear her head and think. But with him so close and barring down on her, she can’t formulate an answer that isn’t foggy and raw.

Which is why he was doing it. It was his intent all along to push her to this point. 

This is why he came all the way here to a backwater planet, to join a race, to destroy any competition except her.

He wanted an answer.

——

 

_Next Up: He gets his answer and far more. Smuttiness abounds._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos! They mean so much! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to have the next one ready soon. (Get ready for some smut)


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo gets his answer and far more. Smuttiness abounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and comments - it always makes for a brighter day! 
> 
> So all that tension will finally have it's crescendo! Its been a long time since I have written smut, so I hope I meet your expectations. Enjoy.

* * *

 

“No,” Her answer comes out choked as if she has pulled it up from her gut unwillingly. It's hard to hear the word come out of her own mouth, much less to tell him. Ever since her failure to bring him to the light, she has pushed any thoughts relating to that moment deep. She wants to say she regrets shipping herself to him, helping him kill his master, leaving him alive to kill off the rest of the Resistance. What kind of Jedi wouldn’t regret that choice?

But she doesn’t.

She feels the shiver that passes through him at her word, at her thoughts that follow them. Her feelings about that moment flayed open for his perusal. He lets it fold over him, draws it in like he is drinking in huge gulps. Like he has been left in the desert without water for days and is so thirsty. 

His arms slide around her before she even realizes she is being hauled against his chest. His hands spread across her lower back, as his head dips. She doesn’t even realize she reaches up to meet him. Her head turns and their noses bump until they finally get the angle right. Then their lips mesh - wet and hot and pressured. 

“Good,” He mutters against her lips, “Because I’m not going away.”

He pushes further into her, deepening the kiss. She inhales, her mouth parting enough for him to flick his tongue across her lips. She lets out a soft hiss, and he pushes even more. Her mouth widens, and now there is a dance of tongues. He growls, making her mouth tingle. She lets her hands slip up his arms and then to the nape of his neck under his hair. He twists his head for a different angle and she gasps, pulling her fingernails against his neck.

There are hands and mouths and heat all over in a matter of seconds that feel like minutes. Her arm wraps are ripped off as he starts running his calloused hands along her arms, making looping circles that tingle. Her hands end up in his hair, tugging his head down roughly as she tries to pull him closer than is possible. 

Her blood is singing as it pools between her thighs, and it zings as his hands drop from her arms to cup her hips. He grips them, heavy and demanding. It elicits a gasp from both of them, the heat between them climbing. She nips at his bottom lip before he moves away. He starts littering wet kisses against her jaw and then her neck until he is sucking on the skin on her collarbone. She gasps, hands slipping from his hair to his shoulders. Her hips roll forward.

“This okay?” She feels him hesitate, for a moment, his hands stalling against her hips.

Even through the haze that is her mind, she realizes what he is asking. This is growing out of control fast. It's easy to feel his want for this to continue in the bond and where his need presses against her stomach. They have been dancing around each other for months. They have both attempted to kill the other, hated the other, harmed the other. But this is a different kind of dance. 

This isn’t a safe bet, she thinks. He has never been a safe bet. 

She leans back for a second, her hands still gripping his shoulders as she contemplates. She lets him read her choice through her mind. She knows if she says no he will need to understand why so he doesn't interpret it as rejection. They could end this now, leave it in the sands and return to their respective positions in this war. Or they could continue, let this passion sweep them away and then what?

Return to the way things were? That isn’t an option.

But she glancing up at him and isn’t surprised at her choice. She has lived for years by seizing what she could of the moment. And she wants this moment. 

Decision made, she slides her hands over his face, feeling the scars and tracing his lips. She lets her eyes drop from his to focus on the tingle of her thumb pad against the softness of his lower lip. His lips turn up into a smirk, knowing this is going to go the way he wanted all along. Smugness rises inside him, swallowing them both whole. She looks up to his eyes; dark and full of excitement.

She squeaks in surprise as he sucks her finger into his mouth and proceeds to lather it in soft, insinuative strokes. Her pulse thrums, cheeks flushed as she watches entranced. Then he pulls away, her finger coming away with a pop and feeling cold against the dry desert heat.

His hands skate back up to her head, tangling in her hair and pulling her upward. He dips down, tongue tracing the shell of her ear. 

“A first time, then.” Repeating his earlier words, pleased at his own little joke.

His words echo in her mind, and she lets out a bark of a laugh. 

“Wishful thinking,” She mumbles back, turning her head so she can kiss his throat. She finds his pulse and gently runs her tongue along it before sucking. 

He bucks forward, cursing. And then let outs out a rumbling laugh of his own that she can feel through her skin. “Looks like a wish about to come true.”

She doesn’t have a chance to make a retort. His hands are in her hair and pulling her head pull back and he captures her in another searing kiss. This time it's not imploring, but demanding. His tongue fights for dominance. His hands start slipping down her back, leaving trails of heat before resting on her rear to cup and pull her up.

She helps, lifting her legs and sliding them around his hips. They roll into each other, this time making hitched moans as friction gathers. Even through the fabric its enough to make tingles spring up her spine and to her fingers and toes. Around them, the air hums with electricity.

_Gods_ , she thinks, _if they don’t get to it soon it's going to end with them in their clothes._

He hums in agreement, and then they are tugging at each other. Rey starts trying to pull off his top, but he isn’t having it. His hands are slipping up her waist and under her tunic before she can even growl in disagreement. They fan over her wrappings, gently thumbing the bud of her breast. 

_Off_ , she thinks, drawing his attention back to the moment at hand and she thinks she catches a blush on his cheeks.

_Off_ , he presses back and then pulls on the bindings letting her know he wants her divested of clothing before she has her way.

_Ass_ , she thinks across the bond but acquiesces. She tugs her shirt over her head and then pulls at the knot in her bindings, letting them slip off and pool at her waist. 

And then he almost drops her. 

She lets out a yelp, legs crushing against him and her arms clinging to his shoulders. His hands immediately fall to her rear, tucking her in closer. She shivers as her breasts rub against the harshness of his shirt. 

They stumble again as he moves, searching until he finds what he is looking for.

His cloak. 

He puts one arm on her back to hold her in place as he lowers her onto the cloak. It puts a different angle on everything, and they pause and look at each other for a second. His one arm is holding his weight off her, though their hips are still connected. She didn’t let her grip on them diminish one bit. He slips his hand from her back and starts tracing her jawline to her lips as his eyes follow the trail of his hand.

Hips grind against each other, and her back starts bending. His breaths are coming shorter, too, and immediately their eyes link.

He pulls back and starts divesting clothes. Off goes his top and his waist binding. She sees the little pucker of a scar from the blaster and reaches out a hand to trace it. He grabs her hand, entwines his own, and presses it back into the sand. This time he doesn’t keep much of his weight off of her, pressing. 

Okay, don’t go near that, she thinks.

He winces, but presses a kiss to her forehead, before pressing his hands against the side of her body. She arches up against him, skin against skin as he rolls his hips hard and deliberately against her core. It makes a stark contrast to the softness of his touch sliding up and down her bared sides.

She grips his hips, siding one leg up further so it's resting on his waist. The other leg falls to stabilize her on the ground. They are rocking heavily now as he grinds into her. 

His hands dip to her thighs, and then he pulls away. Suddenly her skin prickles with the cold, and he smiles down at her, eyes flipping from one breast to the other. His hands move from her waist to the clasp at the front of her pants. He looks at her, eyebrow raised and she nods.

Though his hands are steady, he struggles to pull the pants down, and Rey has to shimmy a bit. They manage to get one of her legs out before he gets too frustrated and leaves the other leg on. She laughs, reaching up to pull him down into a kiss as her hands slide down his torso. She has wanted to do this since she saw him without his shirt those months ago.

But her moment is short lived. Their hips are back together, and they are getting more desperate for contact. She can feel the little buzz growing. So she slips her hands down, sliding along the dip of his hips. He lifts, and settles his weight on one arm as he helps her undo his pants, and push them down, along with his boxers.

He rolls against her hand, and he lets out a pained mewl. He drops his head into the crook of her neck, muttering into her shoulder.

“Rey…please. I need…” 

Oh, she knows what he needs. She needs it too. There is so much she wants to do first, to taste and feel, but they’ve been at this dance too long. They are both so keyed up there isn’t time to linger.

She rolls into him, and he uses one arm to grip her hip as he keeps his weight on the other. He is nipping at her throat now, groans going straight to her groin. She takes him in her hand and guides him to her entrance. He thrusts into her folds as he bites down, sucking her pulse into his mouth and running his teeth along it.

It's enough to send her flying over the edge, even before he rolls against her again. Blinding and startling, she sees flecks as she arches upward, and her toes curl against the waves. Even the pain of not having a man in some time is washed away by the released pressure. He holds her close as her waves subside, rolling into her with a vengeance. 

Now that she has been tossed over the edge, he lets go. His rhythm becomes rash and hard. And even as she comes off her high she starts to blush at the sounds of flesh hitting flesh. His hands are gripping her hips harshly, as he slams relentlessly. She reaches up and clings to him for the rest of the ride, buzzing.

Just as she feels another little tingle, he pulses and spills into her, his movements becoming jerky and then he is spent. His arm gives out, and he rests his full weight against her, pressing her into the ground. 

With a heavy breath, she slides her arms around him and holds on until both of their breaths steady.

When he has finally settled from his high, he rolls off her and then lifts her to switch their positions. He lays her across his chest and then puts his hands behind his head as they look at each other. She gives him a soft smile, resting her chin on his chest. A smug smile, the one he inherited from his father, tugs at his mouth.

“See, I told you my wish would come true.” 

She wrinkles her nose, “What? That we would have a ‘first time’ in the middle of a race? On your cloak. In sand?” 

“Didn’t matter where it happened, as long as it happened,” His heart flutters under her hand. She likes this feeling of having his pulse so near.

“Yeah, you let me know if you still agree with that statement after we get dressed.” She winces, “Sand likes to get everywhere.”

He huffs, and then reaches out a hand to trace her jawline.

“Anything ever worth having comes with pain,” He mutters.

His hand pauses. 

They both feel it, the spike of lifeforms moving closer. And fast. Speeders.

They look at each other, panic flying across both of their faces. The race. They were coming to see what happened to the race. They start jumping around grabbing their clothing. Trying to get it all on despite the hisses and curses at the sand. By the time the search party has crested the hill, they are in some semblance of dress.

Rey turns back to her broken speeder, her heart dropping. Time to face reality, she thinks. Maybe she could hitch a ride with the search party? He has a race to finish, and she can’t ride in on the back of his speeder with Finn watching from the stands.

It's awkward now. Neither seems to know what to say to the other after they have crossed this line of their relationship. As inevitable as it seemed, it is still fresh. Just like a new wound…afraid to touch it for fear of making it worse.

“Do you need a ride? I still have a race I need to finish.” He says after a moment and looks away as if afraid of her answer. She realizes he is afraid she is going to say no. Which she was going to do. She notices he isn’t offering a hand this time, either.

“Yeah, I could use some help.”

He looks up at her as if surprised by her answer and then starts gathering himself. He runs a hand through his hair awkwardly and then climbs up on his speeder. There is a pause as if he isn’t sure what he should do, and then he turns to her and holds out a hand.

She takes it after a moments hesitation and uses his help to swing herself onto the back of his racing speeder. It's an awkward fit. It's already a compact model, built for stealth and aerodynamics. When you add in Kylo’s already hulking form there isn’t much room for her. She ends up half sitting on the rise of the back, which pitches her forward onto his back.

He cranks the engine, not wasting time, and presses the gas enough that she lets out a squeal of surprise. In her panic, she lurches forward and wraps her arms around his chest so she doesn’t go flying off the back of the speeder. 

She feels his chuckle reverberate through his chest.

The ride back is partially awkward and partially thrilling. The two feelings spend the entire ride back battling it out. It doesn’t help that she can feel the smugness radiating off her bond partner. And the fact the bond is singing from them being this close and not trying to kill each other.

It's almost nice.

When they finally make it back to the arena it's to a series of bone-rattling cheers and screams. It only increases as the audience realizes there are two people on the back of the speeder. The announcer is booming across the stadium, and though it is loud enough to wake the dead she doesn’t pay any of it mind. The sight of the finish line makes her heart drop, and she clings a little tighter than necessary. 

Though she knows he needs to finish the race, she would be content to continue riding on the back of his speeder. She sure doesn’t want to face the results of her horrible fail.

But Kylo is determined to finish this thing and seems adamant that he is going to drag her across the line with him. She can sense that bit of resolve through the bond. He sure isn’t hiding it from her.

And as they slide across the line, and the cheers make the ground rumble, she doesn’t immediately let go of him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Rey gets a surprise. No, not that kind of surprise (but perhaps just as good?). Get your mind out of the gutter. :)
> 
> Just throwing this out there if you are interested... tumblr = @ohsnapcrackle


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey gets a surprise.

* * *

 

Finn meets her at the bottom of the stadium sometime after the crowd has died down. Kylo disappeared into the congratulatory crowd and is long gone. It's well enough they didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. She doesn’t know what she would have said. After what they shared she isn’t looking forward to the moment their bond connects them again. They'll have to talk.

She wonders if Finn noticed her reluctance to let him go at the end of the race. 

But if he did, he doesn’t acknowledge it.

“I can’t believe he showed up here,” Finn says for the hundredth time. The ex-stormtrooper is determined to decipher Kylo’s reasons appearing in the Outer Rim for a mere speeder race.

“Maybe he was bored,” Rey supplies. It's a stupid reason, but she wonders if it isn’t s a little true. He had been more than excited to race her. She has a suspicion that he finally feels like he has someone that can rise to his challenges. And someone he can roll around in the sand with, her consciousness adds.

“That's not a reason. I bet he is up to something.” 

Now that she can't argue with.

They make their way through the crowds back to their little hovel of a hotel. It isn’t much, but it's a warm bed and food. Just as they are walking past the check-in, Rey is pulled to a stop.

“I am sorry, Miss, but you have a delivery.” 

Startled, Rey almost jumps, “A delivery? I wasn’t expecting anything. Were we supposed to get something?” Rey turns to Finn, who just shrugs.

“It just arrived a few minutes ago by messenger,” The hostess hands her a simple envelop that feels a little heavier than it looks.

“Thanks,” Rey smiles and then walks away toward the elevator. Curious, Finn leans over to read the name on the front.

Its addressed to Rey of Jakku in a neat, scrawling script that seems oddly familiar, but she can’t place it.

She starts to rip it open, sliding her finger under the glue. 

She pulls out a note, scrawled in that same handwriting, and a key falls onto the floor with a clink. She reaches down to pick it up and freezes. 

She recognizes the key. She knows exactly what it goes to.

Finn glances over her shoulder and whistles. “Is that a key to -“

“It sure is.”

She flips the note over so she can read it and immediately crumples it up so Finn won’t see the neatly penned words. 

“What did the note say?”

“It just said ‘For the Resistance,’” she lies, and feels horrible for it. But if Finn saw what was really on the note, she knows it wouldn’t end well.

So she tucks it into her clothes and holds the key tightly in her hands.

“I’ve got to go see a mechanic about my speeder. Can I meet you back here in an hour?”

Finn gives her a concerned look, and acts like he wants to argue with her, but decides its best not to.

“Just remember we are eating at six.”

She shoots him a beaming smile, “Have I ever forgotten about food?”

He laughs and turns to walk back to their rooms, already calling out for Rose and Poe. She turns and goes back down the elevator, leaves the hotel and makes a beeline for the garage. 

Nestled between a few other speeders is the shiny black number that Kylo used in the race today. It has lost a lot of its shine, and the front is mangled, but its the most beautiful speeder she has ever seen.

She pulls out the note, safe to read it without prying eyes.

“This one deserves a second chance. I expect to see it at top performance in our next race.”

She is too caught up in the note and her new speeder that she completely misses the banknote nestled in the bottom of the envelope. She will find it later that evening, a bit miffed to see the exact amount of the prize money scrawled across the note.

Next time, she thinks, she will drive him over the finish line.

 

———

 

_And that concludes this story._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that end! Hope it was sweet and smutty enough for everyone's liking. Thank you to everyone that left comments and kudos! I can't thank everyone enough for all the love. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this short bit. I hope you enjoyed it. I have more on the way within the week, and most of it is already planned out in my head. Please let me know what you think!


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